Lawsuit filed over boy's fatal asthma attack

September 22, 2006

A Chicago boy who died from an asthma attack earlier this month could have been saved if a city ambulance had not taken 25 minutes or longer to respond, the boy's family alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Shanna Henigan said in the suit that when her son, Deangelo, began to have trouble breathing in the early morning hours of Sept. 4, she called 911.

About 8 to 10 minutes later, an ambulance drove past the family's home in the 1500 block of North Latrobe Avenue, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The ambulance did not stop, "despite Shanna Henigan's attempts to get the driver's attention by waving her arms and shouting at the ambulance from the sidewalk," the lawsuit said.

Henigan called 911 again, but by the time the ambulance arrived, 25 to 35 minutes had passed since the initial 911 call, according to the lawsuit.